Le Boss Does A U-Turn

Arsene Wenger has made a sensational U-turn and said that he would NOT be against a foreign takeover.

For months Wenger has said how important it is that Arsenal remain in the hands of Englishmen.

But in today's edition of The News of The World Wenger has, for the first time, conceded the possibility of falling into the hands of Stan Kronke.

'I'm not against foreign ownership of clubs. How could I be?'

'I am a foreign manager and there are many foreign players at Arsenal and in the Premiership.

Le Boss had some more great news. He wont be leaving when/if Arsenal fall into the hands of Stan Kronke.

'But it has to be done in the right way. If it happens at Arsenal it would not mean I'd quit the club.'

This is fantastic news for Arsenal fans after fears Wenger would walk when his contract expires at the end of next season.

Although there is some bad news... for every other team in the Premiership. IF Wenger can build the team coming together with little to no money, what on earth is he capable of with the millions Stan Kronke could bring to the club?

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Indeed HG, the board have admitted to Le Boss that a takeover is in the pipeline. I'm still not sure what I think of the takeover, one day I think it'll be great the next I'm not so sure. A statement from Stan Kronke wouldn't go a miss.

Aren't we reading too much into a fairly innocuous statement? He has already said that he would not want to jeopardise the development work he has already put in and that he feels that the club is better served in the long term by relying on its own resources. That seems a far more definitive statemetn of preference than who owns the shares. Given that the club is already 12%+ is owned by an American, 16%+ by an Indian and 24%+ by a man domiciled in Switzerland he would have to be quite stupid to say anything else.

I think the reason people are unsure is because as you say, there's been no reassurance from Kronke that he will act in the interests of the club should he assume comtrol of the club. Amos, Wenger has said 3 or 4 times that Arsenal NEED to remain in the hands of Englishmen, now this? It may be that we are reading too much into it but he has gone back on his original statement - something you don't often see him doing.

I agree Yazz, but it's nice to know that he has the option of signing a big player if he feels we need it. Mr Kronke can't be an idiot - you don't become a Billionaire by being stupid so he'll know that the best way to bring back the glory is to let wenger do his job the way he wants to.

Has he said that the club needs to be owned by Englishmen skimmy? He has said that they need to retain their traditional values and that may have implied english ownership but it seems to me that when he has spoken in the past he was supporting the argument that the club should be self determining and not part of a wider corporate entity more than its ownership. In any case, arguably the club is already substantially foreign owned as I said earlier so how can he object ? I am not sure whether a Kroenke involvement is a good or bad thing either but the politics intrigue me. The lunch that Wenger and Dein had preceded the board meeting in which Dein was fired/resigned. Wouldn't it be strange if in outlining his plans to Wenger it was Wenger that spilled the beans to the board resulting in Dein leaving. Of course it is a completely fanciful notion to think that, instead of this being a contest between the 'toffs' and Dein, this might be a powerplay between Wenger who wanted our own stadium and an independent board and Dein who seemingly didn't. What can be said is that Wenger who now has the power to appoint his own director of football, and not as you might imagine the board, is stronger than he has even been.

Kroenke has been in touch with the arsenal supporters trust. He doesn't carry out his business through the media (Isn't that an arsenal tradition already??). If Dein, as expected comes back as chairman, then Wenger will enjoy even more power than ever before at the club. Kroenke does NOT get involved with stuff he knows little about, he employs someone who does, gives them whatever cash they need & lets them get on with it.

yea i agree with AG kroenke seems like a very sensible guy who isnt going to try and interfere with stuff he doesnt know anything about. i will admit tho, the prospect of wegner with even more money at his disposal should be a warning to all premiership sides

It seems to me that Arsene has had the explanation from DD of what would happen when it does happen. He will be fully aware that DD will be in for Arsenal along with Kronke. I dont mind to be fair, I trust David Dein more than Peter Hill-Wood and the other old boys.

those "other old boys" have been keeping the tradition of arsenal football club going gunnerb!!!!! its obvious you aint been going long,deins in it for himself,couldnt trust him,fizzman is the man that you should be grateful for not dein!!shame on you gunnerb!!

I don't think any true Gooner who has had his/her eyes open for the last 10 years can possibly be in favour of a takeover nor think that we need it..money doesn't automatically translate into effectiveness on the pitch unless you want to emulate chelsea's monotonous machine,,,30 mil for shev or 2.5 for RVP, 23mill for wright-phillips or 6mill for Rosicky e.t.c...come on... use your brains

anon - I dont quite think you can say that. I'm not against a takeover, that doesnt make me a true gooner? How could it hurt, especially if Wenger is still going to be around? He is not going to spend silly money. So what you will probably find it is middle ground between ur extreme examples.

first off, this was reported where might I add ? springy, most gooners know how Dein is mr Arsenal, was a supporter on the north bank terraces, made his money and went into the board room in 83. Fizman made his money in diamonds and with PSION, also went in in 83. The look at our old school chairmain, think he still owns 0.8 % of shares, typical english stock, big old house paid off by his forefathers, worked in the city, now retired and with no real money. fizman is worth 154M in the rich list, the rest of them are less.

something wrong with typical english stock and coming from money puregold????you seem to be opposed to your old school chairman.gunnerb said he trusted dein over hill-wood and other old boys, the tradition of arsenal football club goes well before 1983,i personally dont give a monkeys but dein? nah couldnt trust him as far as i could throw him.bought shares for approx £150,000 which are now worth £40 mill??lets see what he does with them eh?

prits- the point I was making was that success on the pitch is the most important thing and the boss has proved that this is not dictated by money...so why encourage a takeover solely designed to extract profit from the club

Like I've said before on a previous article, I'm not against or for the takeover. And like some of you said, even if Wenger had the funds, he wouldn't use it to buy a super team. I would sort of let out a couple of wistful sighs when I read about how Wenger wanted this potentially great player, but couldn't get him due to money issues. At least, hypothetically speaking, if the takeover does happen and the funds are there, Wenger will be able to get a couple of those players he's really wanted.

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